I've been having some exciting encounters with bugs lately. Lets start with the first one.
Worms: Nala perpetually has worms, no matter how many times I have her de-wormed. They are not fun.
Maggots: Nala had a maggot crawl out of her leg. Before you go and vomit, I'd like to assure you that she is a very healthy, beautiful, and clean dog. It looked like a bump on her leg and one day I looked at it and something was moving inside. It was a maggot. I called the vet to have him come take a look at it, and by the time he got over to my house, it had already crawled itself out, and Nala was left with a hole in her leg. None of this was painful to her though. The vet gave her some sort of shot and of course, de-wormed her.
Cockroaches: The cockroaches here are just too big. Every night I have at least 3 scurry across my floor, and I go through about a half a can of raid just to STUN the little suckers. I went to the bathroom one night and discovered their favorite place- the trash in my bathroom with used T-roll. I was doin my business when I looked down and saw two little antennae peeking out over the top. Nothing like that to calm you down before bed.
Mosquitoes: Because of the hot weather in Ghana here, you often feel things on your skin. But it's a 50/50 chance that it's either sweat or a mosquitoe. So after slapping myself silly when I thought it was a bug but turned out to be sweat, I've come up with a new detection system: sweat usually drips very slowly, and if you wait long enough, you'll feel it moving. But a mosquitoe, if you're sensitive enough to feel them, lands, pricks, and leaves. So, unless I feel the prick, I don't slap. It's proving to be very effective. I'm no longer slapping myself all night.
That's the latest in news, I'm staying very busy with my new job, I'll have updates from that soon. Otherwise, I'm happy, healthy, and lovin' life!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Support me!
Hello from Takoradi. In this blog, I am going to update you with my new job. And then ask for you to save up some money to donate to the NGO.
So, I've been going out everyday with the founder of Mercy Foundation International. We have been visiting the various schools where the street children are now attending. Let me give you some background though so you know exactly what i mean by that. Mercy Foundation was founded in 1996, as a Ghanaian owned NGO with the aim of rescuing street children, providing them with counselling, and a year of 'pre' school, before enrolling and supporting them in public schools. This pre school was to help the children in transitioning from street life to school life. Many of these children were working, living, and roaming the streets. Some of these children have been orphaned or abandoned, while others come from large families who lack the resources to care for and educate them. Some of these families are headed by young, single mothers who are unemployed or sex workers.The children ranged in ages, from 6-18, and the older ones were given vocational skills and set up with an apprenticeship. Then some few years back, the government made all schools up to a certain level 'free', so the need for the transition school was lost. However, Mercy Foundation has been involved in these kid's lives, by supporting them to ensure they continue their education and stay off the streets. There was also some counselling and education offered to the guardians of the children. So, I've met some of the children and parents, and conducted business and entrepreneurship trainings for some of the parents. Mercy Foundation also offers free computer trainings to 10 needy but brilliant JHS level students every 4 months, which I will soon be teaching. We also run a shelter for victims of human trafficking and abused women and children. The Dept. of Social Welfare and DOVVSU sends cases through the local police station. There they are given a place to stay, food to eat, and protection from their abusers and capturers. Lastly, I've been going out to JHS and SHS schools in the region with the NGO to show a movie to students. This movie hits a lot of points that the students are going through, but mainly, it is a movie to encourage them to follow the Lord and stay focused in their studies. It contrasts two different characters, one who got pulled onto a wrong path by peer pressure and bad decisions, and the other who resisted and graduated school at the top of his class. The kids love it, and it is worthwhile.
Now that you know some of what I am doing, I would hope you see the benefit in giving to support an NGO who is actually helping to improve people's lives. There are a lot of relief organizations out there claiming to 'support the children', and adopt the children, but too often most of what you donate doesn't get used directly for the children. I can guarantee, (since I am a co-signer on the account) that any money you give will be used for the direct support of the children and implementation of our programs. That said, I am going to be writing a grant through the Peace Corps which you can donate through, and I'll provide the link to that later once its done. I am currently working on updating the website. If you can't wait, then there is information on the website under "support". I'll paste the link below. Please share this with anyone, I know it's hard times, but if you want to donate to something and don't want to worry about what your money is actually used for, then choose me!
http://www.mercyfi.com/support.html
So, I've been going out everyday with the founder of Mercy Foundation International. We have been visiting the various schools where the street children are now attending. Let me give you some background though so you know exactly what i mean by that. Mercy Foundation was founded in 1996, as a Ghanaian owned NGO with the aim of rescuing street children, providing them with counselling, and a year of 'pre' school, before enrolling and supporting them in public schools. This pre school was to help the children in transitioning from street life to school life. Many of these children were working, living, and roaming the streets. Some of these children have been orphaned or abandoned, while others come from large families who lack the resources to care for and educate them. Some of these families are headed by young, single mothers who are unemployed or sex workers.The children ranged in ages, from 6-18, and the older ones were given vocational skills and set up with an apprenticeship. Then some few years back, the government made all schools up to a certain level 'free', so the need for the transition school was lost. However, Mercy Foundation has been involved in these kid's lives, by supporting them to ensure they continue their education and stay off the streets. There was also some counselling and education offered to the guardians of the children. So, I've met some of the children and parents, and conducted business and entrepreneurship trainings for some of the parents. Mercy Foundation also offers free computer trainings to 10 needy but brilliant JHS level students every 4 months, which I will soon be teaching. We also run a shelter for victims of human trafficking and abused women and children. The Dept. of Social Welfare and DOVVSU sends cases through the local police station. There they are given a place to stay, food to eat, and protection from their abusers and capturers. Lastly, I've been going out to JHS and SHS schools in the region with the NGO to show a movie to students. This movie hits a lot of points that the students are going through, but mainly, it is a movie to encourage them to follow the Lord and stay focused in their studies. It contrasts two different characters, one who got pulled onto a wrong path by peer pressure and bad decisions, and the other who resisted and graduated school at the top of his class. The kids love it, and it is worthwhile.
Now that you know some of what I am doing, I would hope you see the benefit in giving to support an NGO who is actually helping to improve people's lives. There are a lot of relief organizations out there claiming to 'support the children', and adopt the children, but too often most of what you donate doesn't get used directly for the children. I can guarantee, (since I am a co-signer on the account) that any money you give will be used for the direct support of the children and implementation of our programs. That said, I am going to be writing a grant through the Peace Corps which you can donate through, and I'll provide the link to that later once its done. I am currently working on updating the website. If you can't wait, then there is information on the website under "support". I'll paste the link below. Please share this with anyone, I know it's hard times, but if you want to donate to something and don't want to worry about what your money is actually used for, then choose me!
http://www.mercyfi.com/support.html
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